Do Trekkers/Trekkies have astrology to thank for Vulcan?

May 8, 2013 — return2thesource

As I prepare for an awesome webinar this Saturday, I got to thinking about a tidbit when I was heavy into studying a particular kind of esoteric astrology a decade ago. There are several kinds of esoteric astrology, but the most notable one in Western astro circles comes from Alice Bailey. According to Bailey, she received transmissions from a Tibetan Monk, Djwhal Khul, and it is his insights & teachings from which she outlines an esoteric astrology. She published the eponymous tome in 1951. The system focuses on “seven rays” by which human beings receive energy and consciousness that help us evolve as a race. Different planets were “transmitters” for one or more of these seven rays.

Trekkers doing the most as Vulcans

Without getting too caught up in a very elaborate system, one of the planetary centers Khul/Bailey describes is Vulcan. According to Esoteric Astrology, Vulcan was one of the planets of the 1st and 7th Rays and its spiritually “sensed” presence was part of a worldwide preparation for humanity to be on the “Path of Discipleship.” I found a lengthy-enough treatment of what “discipleship” entails from this esoteric point of view here. One little problem about Vulcan, though. There’s no astronomical evidence that it exists. Bailey believed it would be found behind Mercury. The faithful maintain that it will be discovered just as some esotericists claimed to have sensed Pluto before its discovery. We’ll see.

Nonetheless, what I find FASCINATING that although Vulcan has not yet been found, it still has quite a life similar to Bailey’s ideas and intentions through the Star Trek mythos. According to Star Trek lore, Vulcans are the aliens who saved humanity once they saw we had developed the ability for warp speed. (See Star Trek: First Contact for more on that) The Vulcans continued with keeping humanity in a “discipleship” as we see in the Star Trek spin-off series, “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Once we had proven that we could be responsible, I suppose we were “initiated” into a higher level of responsibility. A responsibility that became the United Federation of Planets.

Now I’m not sure where Gene Roddenberry got the idea for Spock and the Vulcan race for the original series, but those are a couple of interesting parallels there, no? Star Trek started a full 15 years after Esoteric Astrology had been published, so it’s quite possible that “Vulcan” was in high currency in occultic/speculative circles. If Roddenberry picked up some ideas there, perhaps Trekkers/Trekkies have a stronger connection to astrology than most would think.